Different types of data such as characters, tables, and images require different structures which define the data and different editing operations for the data. Various application programs are provided in accordance with the type of data. The user uses different application programs for different types of data to be edited: for example, a character processing program in order to edit characters, a spreadsheet program in order to edit tables, and an image editing program in order to edit images.
In this manner, the user generally uses different application programs for different types of data to be edited. However, a document to be created by the user generally contains a plurality of types of data such as characters and tables or characters and images, rather than a document formed by only one type of data such as characters, tables, or images. To create a target document containing a plurality of types of data, the user must print data by various applications using their printing functions, and combine printed materials in a desired order.
There is known a print preview function of, before actually printing on a paper sheet in printing data such as a document or image edited by an application program for editing a document or image, displaying an image to be printed in a printing layout on the display and presenting the preview to the user.
Application software which combines data generated by various applications into one document has been devised. The present applicant has filed a mechanism disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-280756. This system has a function of displaying a hierarchical structure of chapters, pages, and the like as a document structure in a tree format simultaneously when displaying a preview of a loaded document. The user can newly add a chapter or page to an existing document by directly inserting files created by various applications to the tree display region by drag-and-drop.
In this system, however, the user cannot perform detailed settings such as a chapter structure when inserting an object such as a document file or image file to the tree display region in the preview window by drag-and-drop. For example, whether to insert a dragged/dropped document as a chapter or page is automatically determined by the application (fixed such that a document is inserted as a chapter or an image file is inserted as a page), and cannot be designated by the user.